The Globalist Weekly: 4th November 2019
A concise weekly digest of the top readings, content, ideas and discussions from our global bureaux and correspondents at ComplexGlobal. This week we’re exploring both incidents and longer burning geo-political challenges that face our clients in the places they live and the markets they operate.
Piteous impact of deadly earthquakes in Philippines
At least 14 people have died after a series of earthquakes rattled the southern Philippines. A 6.5 magnitude quake struck on Thursday morning, local time, in the Tulunan area of Cotabato province on the southern island of Mindanao. That jolt came only two days after a deadly 6.6 magnitude quake. The quakes have left 14 people dead and 403 injured, according to a report released Thursday by the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Two people are still missing. Rescuers look at the damaged condominium building after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Davao City in the southern island of Mindanao on October 31, 2019. There are currently more than 12,000 people sheltering in 19 evacuation centers, and over 2,000 houses have been totally or partly damaged, NDRRMC said.
San Bernardino fire adds blazes around Los Angeles
New blazes in southern California on Thursday burned homes and forced residents to flee, as strong Santa Ana winds of up to 60mph fueled a ring of wildfires around the Los Angeles area. In San Bernardino, a city of just over 200,000 people, a new wildfire that broke out in the early hours of Thursday torched several homes and forced evacuations. Less than 20 miles away in Riverside county, evacuations were issued after a fire in the city of Jurupa Valley started shortly after midnight, spreading to 300 acres. That fires come after a fast-moving blaze on Wednesday swept worrying close the Roland Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, north of LA. The fire at one point threatened 6,500 homes before firefighters were able to control it.
ISIS Confirms al-Baghdadi’s Death
Days after the Islamic State’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and his heir apparent were killed in back-to-back attacks by United States forces in northern Syria, the group broke its silence on Thursday to confirm their deaths, announce a new leader and warn America: “Do not be happy. ”In an audio recording uploaded on the Telegram app, the Islamic State mourned the loss of Mr. al-Baghdadi, who led the organization for nearly a decade, and its spokesman, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, who was killed a day after Mr. al-Baghdadi and who had widely been considered a potential successor. The audio recording was the first word from the Islamic State confirming the death of its leader, which President Trump triumphantly announced on Sunday as a huge blow to the world’s most fearsome terrorist group.
Johnson agrees to Brexit extension: Urges election
Labour has “run out of excuses” to oppose an early election, Boris Johnson has said, as MPs vote on whether to back his call for a December poll. The PM said “nobody relished” going to the polls weeks before Christmas but this Parliament had “run its course” and was “incapable” of settling Brexit.The PM has formally accepted the EU’s offer of a Brexit extension until 31 January 2020 agreed earlier on Monday. In a letter to EU officials, he said it was an “unwanted prolongation”. Urging the EU to rule out any further extension, he said there was time to ratify his Brexit deal but he feared the current Parliament would never do so “as long as it has the option of further delay”. It comes as MPs prepare to vote on the PM’s proposals for an early general election on 12 December.
House votes for Trump impeachment inquiry
In a largely party-line vote of 232–196, the House embarked on a path that seemed likely to lead to Donald Trump’s impeachment — if not necessarily his removal from office. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, presided over the vote and marked it with a bang of her gavel. Republicans held ranks to vote uniformly against the process, while two Democrats crossed party lines to join them. The House’s sole independent, former Republican Justin Amash of Michigan, voted to advance the resolution. The vote set rules for the public phase of the inquiry, laying out a road map for impeachment that could produce dramatic televised public hearings within two weeks and a vote on impeachment itself by the end of the year.
Many were killed on gas canister on Pakistan train
Islamabad, Pakistan — At least 73 people were killed and 48 others injured after a fire engulfed a train travelling through central Pakistan, completely destroying at least three coaches, officials said. The accident took place near the town of Liaquatpur, about 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of the city of Multan on Thursday morning, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Al Jazeera by telephone. The train was carrying passengers from the southern city of Karachi to Rawalpindi. The two affected coaches were “overcrowded”, he added. Each coach typically holds about 70 passengers. The fire occurred when passengers used a portable gas-powered stove to prepare breakfast.
